Ingredients: 6 servings

Steps

1.
Stir fry the ground pork in a small pan. The fat will render and the meat will become crispy.

2.
The meat juices will come out and be cloudy at first, and then turn transparent. Lower the heat, and stir fry until browned.

3.
If you brown the meat too much, it won't taste good, but just keep cooking it until it's browned all over and cooked through. This is done to add the fat and flavor of pork to the soup.

4.
Add 3 tablespoons of mirin and 1 tablespoon of sake, and cook to evaporate the alcohol. Add 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and 180 ml of soy sauce in that order. When the soy sauce has heated, turn the heat down low so that it doesn't boil.

5.
Add 1 packet of bonito flakes, a piece of kombu and grated ginger. Simmer for about 5 minutes and it's done. Let it rest for more than a day for best results.

6.
Put 3 tablespoons or a small ladleful (about 45 ml) of the soup base concentrate in a ramen bowl. Add about 180 ml of either boiling water or stir fried vegetables that have been boiled in water to the bowl. Put in the freshly cooked noodles, add the toppings, and it's done. Use some of the noodle water as a flavor booster.

7.
The photo shows how the soup should look. I've topped it with a raw egg, stir-fried bok choy and pork chitterlings. The soup is packed with the umami of bonito flakes and kombu seaweed, and is light yet rich. It's kind of an Asahikawa-style ramen soup.

Story Behind this Recipe

My go-to ramen is the soy sauce ramen served at Hisaya, a ramen restaurant in Rumai, a city in Hokkaido. I created the miso ramen recipe first, but actually whenever I eat ramen myself, I choose soy sauce ramen. I've been thinking about a soup base that is made in the same way as a miso soup base.

Helpful Hints

This is a basic soup, so you can make your own variations by adding stir-fried garlic, ginger, honey and so on. Since it has dashi stock, you only need to dilute with hot water to enjoy it as a soup. A secret trick of ramen restaurants is to add the noodle cooking water to the soup base.